All vehicle mats

ABSTRACT

A cut-to-fit universal vehicle floor mat has arrays of peripheral cells separated from each other and from a central area of the mat body by indented trim lines. The arrays of cells can include an array to fit a passenger&#39;s side wheel well.

RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a division of U.S. patent application Ser. No.13/324,814, now U.S. Pat. No. 8,377,918 B1, which is a continuation ofU.S. patent application Ser. No. 12/234,386, filed Sep. 19, 2008, nowU.S. Pat. No. 8,080,302 B2, assigned to the assignee hereof and thespecification and drawings of which are fully incorporated by referenceherein.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Vehicles have foot wells in which the driver and passenger place theirfeet. The foot wells are commonly equipped with carpeting. Often, theautomotive manufacturers offer floor mats to protect these foot wells.Automotive aftermarket manufacturers also offer floor mats for thesefoot wells, many of which are customized for the size and shape of footwells for particular makes and models of cars and trucks, and others ofwhich are meant to fit (somewhat) in a large variety of such makes andmodels.

Some automotive aftermarket floor mats are so-called “cut to fit” floormats, by which the consumer is instructed to cut the floor mat to fithis or her vehicle. It is known to provide scribe or cut lines for thispurpose.

Even with many such cut or trim lines, the best fit that a consumer isable to achieve still leaves room for improvement. One problem is thatwhile driver's side and passenger side foot wells can take radicallydifferent shapes in recent cars, conventional cut-to-fit mats areoffered in pairs that either make no accommodation at all for the sideof the car in which they are to be used, or at most are mirror images ofeach other. Further, the presence of numerous ones of such trim or cutlines affects the ability of the mat to conform to the surface itcovers, in that each such trim line has a tendency to create a hingedjoint at which the mat will preferentially bend, and around whichadjacent panels will rotate. Some conventional cut-to-fit offeringsmerely provide a multitude of uniformly sized rectangular cells with theuser choosing which of the cells are to remain with the mat, and whichof the cells are to be trimmed off. The result is a trimmed mat with ajagged outline with many sharp internal corners, an outline which ismore susceptible to tearing, which is aesthetically suboptimum, and fitsto a particular foot well only as a function of how small and numerousthe cells are.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present invention provides a pair of consumer cut-to-fit vehiclefloor mats which are not merely mirror images of each other. Each mathas a central area of a body surrounded by a plurality of peripheralcells which are separated from the central area and from each other byelongate indented trim lines. The consumer may select any of these cellsto be trimmed off of the mat or to remain with the mat as trimmed. Thenumber, position and shape of these cells and trim lines is quitedifferent from one mat of the pair to the other, as are the outermargins of the untrimmed bodies.

A driver's side mat of the pair is preferably furnished with a pluralityof cells in a gas pedal area in a forward inboard quadrant of the mat, aset of cells for fitting to a transmission tunnel indentation found atthe corner of the front and inboard sides of the driver's side footwells in many vehicles, a preferably two-dimensional deadpedal array ofcells spaced from the gas pedal cells and disposed in a forward outboardquadrant of the mat, and a plurality of cells on or near a predictedposition of a trunk release lever and/or a fuel filler door lever. Apassenger's side mat of the pair is preferably furnished with aplurality of cells to conform to a transmission tunnel bulge, and aplurality of cells choosable by the consumer to conform to an arcuateright front wheel well that bulges into the passenger's side foot wellin many vehicles. Preferably, trim lines defining these last groups ofcells are arcuate rather than rectilinear.

In each mat, a general thickness of the mat's central area is thickerthan that of the area occupied by the peripheral cells. This aids inconforming the mat to the often curved surfaces of vehicle foot wells.

The driver's side mat and the passenger's side mat thus both exhibitnovel and nonobvious characteristics relative to conventional cut-to-fitfloor mats when considered alone. A further technical advantage isconferred when these are provided as a pair to a consumer, who then willbe able to optimally fit these mats to both foot wells of his or hervehicle.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Further aspects of the invention and their advantages can be discernedin the following detailed description, in which like characters denotelike parts and in which:

FIG. 1 is a plan view of the driver's side and passenger's side footwells of a conventional vehicle;

FIG. 2 is an isometric view of a pair of vehicle floor mats which may betrimmed by a consumer to fit into the foot wells of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a plan view of the driver's side floor mat shown in FIG. 2;

FIG. 3A is a magnified schematic sectional view taken substantiallyalong Line 3A-3A of FIG. 3;

FIG. 3B is a magnified detail of a rear outboard corner of the mat shownin FIG. 3;

FIG. 4 is a plan view of a passenger's side floor mat shown in FIG. 2;and

FIG. 5 is a plan view of an alternative embodiment of a pair ofcut-to-fit vehicle floor mats according the invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

A plan view of a conventional driver's side foot well 100 and passengerside foot well 102 is shown in FIG. 1. As pictured, foot wells 100, 102are for American or Continental European use, wherein the driver's sideis on the left and the passenger's side is on the right. Vehicles foruse in countries in which the driver sits on the right and the front-rowpassenger sits on the left (such as Great Britain) would be reversedfrom the view shown here.

Recent automobiles and light trucks have fairly strongly delineated footwells meant to be occupied by the occupants' feet and legs, andsurrounded on four sides by other structure. Driver's side foot well 100will be bounded in an aft direction by a seat pedestal 106, includingareas for seat supports 108 and 110. The seat supports 108 and 110 may,in at least some makes and models, extend forwardly from the rest of theseat pedestal 106. Their size and position varies. The outline of arepresentative seat 107 is shown in dotted line; it may overhang a rearportion of foot well 100. An outboard side 112 of the wheel well 100 maybe bounded by a door sill 114 which has an elevation higher than acentral floor 116 of the wheel well 100. In the approximate vicinity ofthe junction of the outboard side 112 and a rear side 118, there may belocated a fuel filler door lever 120 and/or a trunk lid release lever122. These levers 120, 122 of course should be left free to be operatedby the user and should not be covered by the mat as trimmed.

Forward of the door sill 114 there will often be a deadpedal 124 locatedin a forward and outboard corner of the foot well 100. This deadpedal124 typically is a flat surface, substantially angled to the horizontal,for the placement of a driver's left foot. It is often rectangular inshape. The forward margin 126 of the foot well terminates in a firewall,which begins to slope steeply upward from floor 116.

A gas pedal 128 is positioned underneath the driver's right foot. Thegas pedal 128 may be connected via a forward or upwardly tendingstructural link (not shown) to the firewall at a point well above thefoot well floor 116, but instead can be attached at a hinge point 130 tothe wheel well floor 116. A brake pedal (not shown) is always disposedin an outboard direction from the gas pedal, but typically does not haveany connection to the floor 116.

An inboard side 132 of the foot well 100 is typically defined by acentral transmission tunnel 134 which also acts as a divider between thedriver's side foot well 100 and the passenger's side foot well 102. Insome models, the transmission tunnel 134 has an indentation or narrowing136 on the driver's side near the forward margin 126.

In recent vehicles the passenger's side foot well 102 is rarely a mirrorimage of the driver's side foot well 100, and more typically is ofsignificantly different size and shape. It may not be as wide in atransverse or inboard-outboard direction and its bounds or margins tendto be dictated by other structures than those which define foot well100. A rear margin 138 of the foot well 102 may include a pair of seatpedestal support indentations or areas 140, 142, but these may not be ofthe same size or be in the same position or spacing as seat pedestalindentations 108 and 110. Sometimes the passenger's seat 144 isstructurally different from the driver's seat 106. An outboard margin146 of the passenger foot well 102 tends to be defined by a passenger'sside door sill 148, which again in many instances will be higher than afloor 150 of the foot well 102.

As one proceeds forward, in many instances the outboard margin 146 ofthe foot well 102 will be defined by a passenger side front wheel well152, and therefore margin 146 may be defined by an arc 154 which isconcave. (For purposes of this Specification, “concave” and “convex” aredefined in view of the shape of the mat as trimmed. “Concave” means“bulging inward”, from a center of curvature located farther from thecenter of the mat than the curve itself, and “convex” means “bulgingoutward”, with a center of curvature of the arc located more toward thecenter of the mat than the curve itself) The arc 154 will take one ofmany shapes depending on the make and model of the vehicle. The arc 154will terminate at a forward margin 156 of the foot well 102, whichusually is defined by the vehicle's firewall. In some makes the lengthof the passenger side foot well 102 in a longitudinal direction (thatis, the direction of vehicle travel; toward the top and bottom in thisFIGURE) may be shorter or longer than the foot well 100 on the driver'sside. This is another asymmetry between the driver's and passenger'ssides that preferably is accommodated by a pair of cut-to-fit mats thatare sized and shaped differently from each other.

An inboard margin 158 of the foot well 102 is typically defined bytransmission tunnel 134—but its shape may not be the same as driver'sside foot well margin 132. In many vehicles, a four-wheel drive ortransaxle hump 160 may cause an outboard-extending bulge 162. There isof course variation among different makes and models of vehicles in theexistence and size of this bulge 162. As can be seen, simply making apassenger's side floor mat which is a mirror image of the driver's sidefloor mat will not result in mats which fit both sides well.

Referring to FIG. 2, the present invention provides a pair of mats 200,202 of distinctly different shapes and having distinctly different setsof trim or cut lines that have been chosen to fit a large number ofmakes and models of automobiles and light trucks. The inventors havemeasured the outlines of the foot wells of the most popular makes andmodels of recent vehicles and have chosen the illustrated shapes andpositions of the illustrated trim lines as a result of this research.

The mats 200, 202 are preferably molded from a polymer such as naturalor synthetic rubber or a thermoplastic elastomer (TPE). Mats 200, 202may be molded using injection molding or compression molding techniques.

Driver's side mat 200 has a forward margin 203 which will terminatesomewhere on a firewall. The forward margin 203 is joined at itsoutboard end by a longitudinal margin segment 214, which proceeds aftuntil it makes an interior corner with a transverse margin segment 222.The margin segment 222 proceeds in an outboard direction until it joinswith an outboard margin 204. Margin segments 214, 222 create a cutoutfor one possible deadpedal. One of the longitudinal cut lines 210, 212and one of the transverse cut lines 228-236 can be selected to trim themat 200 to fit the deadpedal areas of other models.

Further aft along margin 204, there is a relatively tight grouping oftransverse cut lines 258-262. These lines are positioned such thataccommodation can be made for a fuel filler lever, a trunk releaselever, or both, commonly found at this location, and still cover thearea of the foot well around these typical structures with a fair amountof closeness of fit.

The rear margin 282 is provided with a plurality of cells 402, some ofwhich can be selected for removal in order to accommodate the driver'sseat supports or seat pedestal.

An inboard corner of the rear margin 282 is joined to a longitudinallydisposed inboard margin segment 404. The inboard corner of forwardmargin 203 is joined to a margin segment 400 which is parallel to marginsegment 404, forward of margin segment 404, and which is offset in aninboard direction from the margin segment 404. Segments 404 and 400 arejoined by a diagonal margin segment 406. The bulge created by marginsegments 400, 406 will fit a driver's side transmission tunnelindentation present in some vehicle models. A diagonal trim line 408, inparallel to but disposed forwardly from margin segment 406, can beselected to conform to smaller transmission tunnel indentations.Alternatively, the user can trim the mat along longitudinal trim line410, which is an extension of the margin segment 404, to fit thosemodels which have no such transmission tunnel indentation.

Numerous longitudinal and transverse trim lines 412, 414 are provided ina gas pedal area 416, disposed in a forward and inboard quadrant of themat, adjacent forward margin 203 and trim line 410, to accommodate a gaspedal or throttle of the sort which hingedly extends from the floor ofthe foot well.

It will be evident from FIG. 2 that the shape of the passenger's sidemat 202 is quite different, and is not merely a mirror image of thedriver's side mat 200. A forward margin 420 of mat 200 may be convexlycurved rather than straight. At its inboard side the margin curvesfairly gradually into a longitudinally disposed inboard margin 422.Along the length of inboard margin 422 are the inboard ends of a familyof concavely curved trim lines 424, one of which can be selected by theconsumer in fitting the mat 202 to a transaxle bulge of a transmissiontunnel. Optionally the mat 202 can have a further, more forwardlydisposed arcuate trim line 426 as well. Each of the arcuate trim linescurves inwardly and rearwardly until a longitudinal trim line 428 is meton a tangent thereto.

The inboard margin 422 meets a rear margin 430 at its rear end. Similarto driver's side mat 200, the mat 202 can be provided with a pluralityof cells 432 which may be selectively removed for seat supports or theseat pedestal.

The rear margin 430 is joined at its outboard end to an outboard margin434 by a curved transition 436. The consumer can select margin 434 asthe outboard limit of mat 202, or can instead trim the mat alonglongitudinal cut line 438 or longitudinal trim line 440. Trim lines 438and 440, in combination with longitudinal trim line 442 disposed on theinboard side of the mat, permit the consumer to size mat 202 to ageneral width of the passenger's side foot well.

While outboard margin 434 begins as a longitudinal straight line at itsaft end, toward its forward end margin 434 begins to curve first througha transition 444, and then through a further curved transition 446 whichin turn is joined to forward margin 420. Curved transitions 444, 446 aremeant to fit to the outboard limits of passenger's side foot wells insome vehicles, and curve inwardly to accommodate a wheel well of a rightfront wheel of the vehicle.

But in many vehicles, the right front wheel well makes a concavelyarcuate bulge into the passenger's side foot well. For these vehicles,three families of concavely arcuate trim lines 448, 450 and 452 havebeen provided.

Comparing the two mats 200, 202, it will be evident that the trim linesprovided for each in many cases are not repeated on the other side. Thedeadpedal, gas pedal, fuel filler/trunk release and forward transmissiontunnel trim lines found in the driver's side mat 200 are not found inthe passenger's side mat 200. Conversely, the transmission tunnel bulgetrim lines and the right wheel well trim lines found in passenger's sidemat 202 are not found in the driver's side mat 200. The selectiveprovision of these trim line families on one but not the other of mats200, 202 makes each of them a better fit to an actual vehicle.

Referring to FIGS. 2 and 3, the driver's side mat 202 is shown in moredetail. A transverse trim line 250 is spaced about one inch aft offorward margin 203 and terminates at either end in convexly curvedsegments in the instance that the user elects to trim off the area ofthe mat forward of line 250, thereby creating rounded corners in thisevent. Outboard margin 204 is joined to margin 220 at a curved corner208 and extends therefrom in a generally aft direction.

A first fore-and-aft set of trim lines 210, 212 run parallel to anoutboard margin section 214. Fore and aft trim lines 210, 212 eachterminate in a forward direction with a convexly curved segment 220,such that if the user selects one of them to trim the mat, a roundedcorner between margin 203 and margin 204 will result. The trim line 210is spaced in an inboard direction from the margin segment 214 by aboutone inch. Trim line 212 is spaced in an inboard from trim line 210 byabout another inch.

Outboard margin segment 214 is about six inches long and is joined at anaft end thereof with a transverse margin segment 222. Margin segment 222extends in an outboard direction about four inches to curved corner 224.Margin segments 214 and 222 together are calculated to approximate afirst possible outline of a deadpedal area. The deadpedal usuallypresents a flat surface at a substantial incline to the foot well floorand typically terminates at its inboard side with a cliff-like dropoff.Segments 222 and 214 are designed to fit around one such deadpedal area,so that the driver's side mat 200 won't cover it. This will make therest of the mat 100 better conform to the floor 116 (FIG. 1)particularly in an area adjacent the firewall and forward portion of theoutboard margin 204.

A large number of roughly rectangular cells 226 are formed near margins214 and 222 by the intersection of longitudinal trim lines 210 and 212and a plurality of transverse trim lines 228, 230, 232, 234 and 236.Transverse trim line 228 is preferably spaced about one inch aft ofmargin 222, and trim lines 230-236 are spaced at one inch intervals aftof trim line 228. A pair of longitudinal trim lines 237 and 238 is setoff in an inboard direction from longitudinal outboard margin 204 by oneand two inches, respectively. Longitudinal trim line 240 is spaced byabout one inch inboard from trim line 238 but, unlike trim lines 237 and238, does not extend for more than about five inches from margin 222.

The intersection of these trim lines 210, 212, 237-240 on the one hand,and transverse trim lines 228-236 on the other, create a two-dimensionalarray of cells 226 in the outboard and forward quadrant of mat 200 whichcan be selectively trimmed away by a user to fit to deadpedal areas oflarger extent that one which would be fit by outer margin segments 214and 222. The user can cut this area to fit a deadpedal which is up totwo inches wider, and/or up to five inches deeper in a longitudinaldirection, in one-inch increments. Longitudinal trim lines 237-240 eachterminate at their forward end in a curved segment which curves in aninboard direction, permitting the as-trimmed mat to have a roundedcorner at this location. The two-dimensional array of deadpedal cells226 is spaced from the gas pedal cells by a portion of general surface336, which preferably is thicker, has no trim lines in it, and for bothof these reasons is less prone to bending.

Proceeding in an aft direction along outboard margin 204, a transversetrim line 252 is disposed about three inches aft of trim line 236.Transverse trim lines 254, 256 and 258 are disposed at about two inchintervals aft of trim line 252. Each of trim lines 252-258 extends in aninboard direction from margin 204 for about two inches, creating a 2×4array of cells 259 down the side 204 of mat 200.

Starting at transverse trim line 258 and proceeding in an aft direction,the spacing between adjacent transverse trim lines decreases to aboutone inch. This is because there are a large number of vehicle modelswhich position a fuel filler door release lever and/or a trunk releaselever near this location. The spacing between parallel transverse trimlines 258, 260 and 262 is preferably about one inch. The spacing betweentransverse trim line 262 and transverse trim line 264 disposedrearwardly of it is preferably about two inches.

Approximately one inch aft of transverse trim line 264 is disposed atrim line 266, which is in general parallel to trim line 264 but whichextends across the entire transverse width of mat 200. Trim line 266has, at its outboard end, a forwardly curving segment 270. A curvedsegment 272 is provided as a transition between trim line 266 andlongitudinal trim line 237. A similar curved segment 274 is provided asa transition between trim line 266 and longitudinal trim line 238.

About one inch aft of trim line 266 is a parallel transverse trim line268 which extends across the entire width of the mat 200. Like trim line266, the trim line 268 terminates at either end in a forwardly curvedsegment, the outboard one of which is curved segment 276. Inboard ofthis curved segment 276 is a similar curved segment 278, which can actas a rounded corner between trim line 268 and longitudinal trim line237. Inboard of curved segment 278 is a similar curved segment 280,which can act as a rounded corner between transverse trim line 268 andlongitudinal trim line 238.

A rear margin 282 of the mat 200 is curved at both its outboard andinboard ends to provide respective rounded corners to outboard margin204 and inboard margin 206. At their aft ends, the trim lines 237 and238 are similarly curved in an inboard direction, to provide smoothtransitions to the rear margin 282.

FIG. 3B is a detail of the trim lines formed in the mat 200 nearrear/outboard corner 300 thereof. In practice, a user will select rearmargin 282, transverse trim line 268 or transverse trim line 266 to actas the rear margin of the trimmed mat 200. Similarly, the user willselect outboard margin 204, longitudinal trim line 237 or longitudinaltrim line 238 as the general outboard margin of the trimmed mat 200. Themat 200 has a curved transition for all possible selectable combinationsof longitudinal trim lines/margins and transverse trim lines/margins.Said differently, the mat 200 has a plurality of longitudinal columnsand transverse rows of peripheral cells, and the mat 200 providesconvexly curved trim line segment for each intersection of these rowsand columns occurring near the corners of the untrimmed mat.

In the instance that the user selects one or more of the trim lines 237,238, 266, 268 to terminate the part, he or she will trim any outboard oraft excess cells at the trim line, typically using a pair of scissors.As also shown in FIG. 3A, each trim line is formed as a deep V-shapedvalley to guide the scissor blades during a cutting operation. Infurther aid of this, the mat 200 is furnished with a set of small,triangular islands 302, 304, 306, 308 (FIG. 3 b) to better guidescissors or other cutting implement through a selected pair oftransverse and longitudinal trim lines and a curved transition betweenthem.

Returning to FIG. 3, and proceeding in an inboard direction fromlongitudinal trim line 238, the mat 200 is provided with a series ofshort longitudinal trim lines 312-324, disposed in parallel to eachother and spaced from each other preferably by about 2⅛ inches. Each ofthe trim lines 312-324 extend from the aft margin 282 to transverse trimline 266. The intersection of longitudinal trim lines 312-324 andtransverse trim lines 266 and 268 create an array of cells 402 which canbe selectively trimmed away to fit the driver's seat pedestal, andparticularly any forwardly protruding seat supports.

Inboard of trim line 324 is a longitudinal trim line 326 whichpreferably extends for the entire (longitudinal or fore and aft) lengthof mat 200. Trim line 326 is preferably located about one inch outboardof the margin segment 404. A set of six curved transitions 328 isprovided near the aft/inboard corner of mat 200, so that the user willbe able to select any of margin 282, transverse trim line 268, andtransverse trim line 266, and either of margin segment 404 and trim line326, and have a rounded corner between the selected aft and inboard trimlines.

Mat 200 preferably has a reservoir area 330 just forward of cell array402, and laterally interiorly of the outboard and inboard cells. Thisreservoir area 330 preferably is at least slightly depressed relative tothe cells 402, 259, etc. surrounding it. The reservoir area 330 is sopositioned that it will persist into the final trimmed mat, regardlessof the particular make and model for which mat 200 is trimmed. Thereservoir area 330 preferably has a plurality of raised features 332 onwhich the user's feet can be placed; this elevates the user's footwearabove collected rain, water, mud, snowmelt and the like. It is furtherpreferred that the reservoir area 330 be closely bounded on aft, inboardand outboard sides by a rib 334 which assists in retaining water, mudand the like. Forward of the reservoir area 330 is a general surface 336of the mat which preferably has a series of longitudinally disposed,parallel channels 338. The channels 338 terminate in the reservoir 330and there will be a tendency for them to channel water into thereservoir 330. Reservoir 330, raised features 332, rib 334 and channels338 are repeated in the passenger's side mat 202 (FIG. 4), moreparticularly described below.

The gas pedal area 416 (FIG. 3), occupying a region in the forwardinboard quadrant of the mat 200 which is forward and inboard of therest, more particularly includes a set of relatively short longitudinaltrim lines 340, 342 and 344 which do not extend very far aft (in oneembodiment, about nine inches from the forward margin 203). Thelongitudinal trim lines are preferably spaced about one inch apart andintersect with a set of transverse trim lines 346-356 that are spacedapart from each other by about one inch. The transverse trim line 346preferably is positioned about four inches from front margin 203.Longitudinal trim lines 326 and 410 also define cells in the gas pedalarea 416. A transverse trim line 250, spaced about one inch from theforward margin 203, completes the orthogonal two-dimensional array oftrim lines in this area.

The transverse trim lines 250, 266 and 268 can be selected as thegeneral outer forward and aft margins of the as-trimmed mat, so as togenerally fit the mat 200 to the driver's side foot well of the vehicle.Longitudinal trim lines 326, 237 and 238 can be similarly selected forthis purpose.

If the vehicle is one in which the gas pedal hinges to the floor, anL-shaped or U-shaped cutout can be made around the gas pedal byselecting one of trim lines 340, 342 or 344 as the outboard trim line,one of transverse trim lines 346-356 as the aft trim line, and one oftrim lines 326, 410 or 400 as the inboard trim line—the selection of thelatter two creating an “L” cutout. Inboard and forwardly disposed cells358-368, all of which are inboard of trim line 410, can be permitted toremain to cover any transmission tunnel indentation occurring in somevehicle models, or alternatively can be partially or completely trimmedaway. Each of the longitudinal trim lines 340-344, 326, 410, 400terminates at its forward end in a curved portion 370, so that if one ofthese longitudinal lines is selected as an external margin of thetrimmed part, a smooth transition to the forward margin 203 will result.

The driver's side mat 200 has a pair of circular retention bosses 382,384 neat the aft margin 282. The retention bosses are meant to receiveupstanding pegs or hooks typically protruding through or molded into theOEM foot well carpeting. As fitted to such pegs or hooks, the mat 200will not slide forward and will not interfere with operation of the gaspedal or the brake pedal. It is preferred that each retention boss 382,384 define, with a raised rim, a central hole approximately ½ in. indiameter. It is further preferred that the centers of the retentionbosses be about 3½ inches from the aft margin 282 of the untrimmed mat200, and about 2¾ inches from the nearest one of the inboard or outboardmargins 206, 204.

In a preferred embodiment, the retention bosses 382, 384 appear in thedriver's side mat only. While retention bosses 382, 384 provide a safetyfeature, if employed they also impose a constraint on how the mat 200 isfitted to the foot well of the vehicle. Since there is no correspondingsafety issue for the passenger's side mat 202, the bosses 382, 384 areintentionally omitted.

A detailed view of the corresponding passenger's side mat 202 is shownin FIG. 4. Near its aft margin 430, much of the structure of mat 202 isthe same as that of mat 200, and this similar structure is identifiedwith like characters. Also, like mat 200, mat 202 has a centralreservoir area 330, eminences 332 inside of it which project upwardlyfrom a generally flat surface of the reservoir area 330, and afluid-retaining rib 334 surrounding three sides of it. But much of theremaining structure is different.

The family 424 of transmission tunnel bulge curved trim lines includes afirst curved trim line 454 having an aft end which merges as a tangentwith longitudinal trim line 428 at about five inches from aft margin430, and a forward end which meets inboard margin 422 at about 10⅛inches from the aft margin 430. Curved trim lines 456, 458 and 460 inthis family meet longitudinal trim line 428 as tangents thereto at orforward from the junction of trim line 454 therewith. In the illustratedembodiment, the inboard ends of trim lines 456, 458 and 460 are spacedin a forward direction from the inboard end of trim line 454 by equallyspaced 2.3 inch increments.

Inboard margin 422 terminates at its forward end with a convexly curvedsegment 462 that is very gradual, preferably having about a four inchradius of curvature. To cover the instance that trim line 442 isselected to make up all or a part of the inboard margin of the trimmedmat, trim line 442 terminates at its forward end with a curved segment464 that preferably has about a 2¾ inch radius of curvature. Both curvedsegments 462 and 464 provide a greatly rounded corner at the inboard andforward corner of mat 202 in comparison with the rounded corners of mat200 or the aft rounded corners of mat 202.

The wheel well curved trim line family 448 includes a first curved trimline 466 having an outboard end that preferably meets the outboardmargin 434 at a point 468 about 11½ inches from the aft margin 430. Trimline 466 curves concavely in an inboard direction until it meets with alongitudinal trim line 470 disposed about five inches from the center ofthe mat 202. Trim line 472 starts from point 468, curves concavely in aninboard and forward direction until it meets a longitudinal straighttrim line 474 that is spaced in an outboard direction from trim line 470by about one inch. A trim line 476 also starts at outboard point 468,and curves concavely in an inboard and forward direction until it mergeswith a straight longitudinal trim line 478, spaced in an outboarddirection from trim line 474 by another inch. Finally a curved trim line480 likewise begins at point 468 and curves concavely in an inboard andforward direction until it merges with trim line 440, spaced outboardfrom trim line 478 by about one inch and from the outboard margin 434 byabout two inches. The straight trim line segments 470, 474 and 478 eachterminate at their forward ends by inwardly convexly curved segments soas to result in a rounded corner if these trim lines are selected intrimming the mat.

A second family 450 of curved trim lines all start at a forward end onmargin 420 at a point 482, which in the illustrated embodiment islocated about 2¾ inch from a longitudinal center of the mat 202. A smallconvexly curved segment at the forward margin 420 forms a rounded cornerif either if the two curved trim lines 484, 486 are selected fortrimming. The curved trim lines 484, 486 sweep out a larger concave areathan the curve line family 448, and one or the other of them is selectedwhere the intrusion of the passenger side wheel well is most severe. Theinwardmost trim line 484 in this family sweeps in an aft and outboarddirection to a point 488, which in the illustrated embodiment is about14¼ inches from the aft margin 430. A shallower trim line 486 terminatesat a point 490 on the outboard margin 434 which is about 17⅛ inches fromthe aft margin 430.

A third family 452 of these wheel well trim lines includes curved trimlines 492, 494, 496 and 498. Both the forward and outboard ends of thesetrim lines 492-498 are slightly convexly radiused so that if any of themis selected to form a part of the outer margin of the trimmed mat, therewill be rounded rather than sharp corners. This family of trim linecurves is preferably formed around a single center (not shown; locatedforwardly and in an outboard direction from the mat 202 itself) atdifferent radii therefrom. The innermost trim line 492 starts at aforward end 500 which in the illustrated embodiment is about 1⅝ from thelongitudinal centerline of mat 202, and ends at an outboard end 502located in the illustrated embodiment about 19⅝ inches from the aftmargin 430. Trim lines 494, 496 and 498 have upper ends spaced in anoutboard direction from end 500 by preferably substantially uniformintervals which can be about 1⅛ in. The outboard ends of trim lines 494,496 and 498 are similarly spaced from end 502 by similar intervals.

Outboard margin 434 and forward margin 420 are joined by a convexlycurved segment 504 which has a very large radius, once again toaccommodate the intrusion of wheel well structure which exists in mostlate-model vehicles. The intersection of curve families 448, 450 and 452create a large number of cells which can therefore be individuallyselected to remain with or be trimmed off from the mat 202.

FIG. 5 illustrates an alternative embodiment of the invention meant tobe provided for a range of vehicles which aren't as wide as the range ofvehicles optimally fit by the mats shown in FIGS. 2-4. This set 510 ofmats includes a driver's side mat 512 and a passenger's side mat 514. Acentral reservoir 516 of each mat 512, 514 is less wide in a transversedirection than are the reservoirs 330 of mats 200, 202. Likewise, anunsegmented area 518 forward of the reservoir 516 is less wide than area336 of mats 200, 202.

Most of the other structure found in mats 200, 202 have analogs in themats 512, 514, however. Both mats may be trimmed on their forward,outboard, inboard and/or aft sides along the provided trim lines, asbefore. An array 520 of deadpedal cells in the driver's side mat 512 isone cell less wide than is array 226 of mat 200. On passenger's side mat514, there is only one longitudinal column 522 of cells separating theoutboard margin 524 from the reservoir 516, as opposed to two suchcolumns in mat 202. The provided cells and trim lines are otherwisesubstantially identical.

In summary, driver's side and passenger's side cut-to-fit vehicle floormats have been shown and described in which the driver's side andpassenger's side mats are not bilaterally symmetrical or mirror-imaged,but rather intentionally differ in exterior margin and the number,length, positioning and shape of their trim lines. As trimmed by theconsumer, the mats of the present invention can therefore more optimallyfit to both the driver's side and passenger's side foot wells of a largenumber of late model vehicles.

While illustrated embodiments of the present invention have beendescribed and illustrated in the appended drawings, the presentinvention is not limited thereto but only by the scope and spirit of theappended claims.

We claim:
 1. A cut-to-fit floor mat for a vehicle foot well, comprising:an untrimmed mat body having a forward margin, an outboard margin, anaft margin and an inboard margin; a plurality of peripheral cellslocated near or adjacent the outboard margin of the untrimmed mat body,the cells defined by a plurality of trim lines formed as elongateindentations in the mat body; the trim lines including a plurality oflongitudinal trim lines any of which may be selected by a consumer toform part of the outboard margin of the trimmed mat; and the trim linesincluding a plurality of arcuate wheel well trim lines each of which isconcavely curved around a center of curvature located farther away froma center of the mat than is the respective wheel well trim line, eachwheel well trim line having a forward end located on the forward marginof the untrimmed mat body and an outboard end located on the outboardmargin of the untrimmed mat body.
 2. The mat of claim 1, wherein thetrim lines further include a plurality of transverse trim lines any ofwhich may be selected by a consumer of the mat to form part of the aftmargin of the trimmed mat, a central area of the mat body not having anytrim lines, the central area displaced away from the aft margin of theuntrimmed mat body by at least two transverse trim lines.
 3. The mat ofclaim 1, wherein the wheel well trim lines include a plurality offamilies of curved trim lines, each trim line in a trim line familyeither having an end which starts at a same location as an end of theother members of the family, or being formed around a common center ofcurvature as the other members of the family.